Mandarin level 1

Revised August 2025

Prerequisite for entry

For complete beginners or those who have had only very little contact with Mandarin.

Term duration

10 x 2-hour classes.

Aims and objectives

The aim of the course is to enable students to function at a basic everyday survival level. Students should be able to communicate in Mandarin on several practical everyday matters. Language learning skills, including autonomous learning and how to approach some authentic material will be enhanced. Also, students should develop their ability of reading and writing Chinese characters and Chinese culture awareness.

Functions

• Greeting
• Introducing oneself and others
• Asking about nationalities
• Inquiring about occupations
• Discussing where one lives
• Expressing and asking about ages
• Talking about one’s family
• Describing appearances
• Expressing personal likes and preferences

Course content

Main topics/themes to be covered:

• First meetings: introductions and greetings
• Countries, nationalities, and languages
• Family members, public figures and their occupations
• Describing appearances
• Numbers from 1 to 100

Phonetics

• Understanding and practicing pinyin: initials and finals.
• Mastering the four tones and the neutral tone.
• Exploring Chinese syllables and tone Sandhi rules.

Grammar

• Basic Chinese sentence structure: Subject-Verb-Object (SVO).
• Forming negative sentences with the negator 不 (not).
• Creating yes-no questions with the question marker 吗.
• Forming wh-questions in situ with words like 什么 (what), 哪 (which), 哪里 (where), 多大 (how old), 谁 (who), etc.
• Using the particle 的 in noun phrases, indicating possession
• Applying adverbs such as 也 (also), 都 (both, all), and 真 (really)

Learning resources

Books

Discover China (走遍中国) Student Book One
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0230406386
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0230406384

Discover China Workbook One
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 752131445X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-7521314458

Bilingual Dictionaries

Langenscheidt dictionary
Oxford Beginners’ dictionary
Macmillan-FLTRP Chinese Character Dictionary

Websites

Dictionary

In addition there are supplementary materials for self-study in the Self-Access Centre.